Cat Pillows

A few years ago I took a workshop with Melissa Averinos called Making Cat Faces with Melissa. You can see the cat faces I made in the workshop here.

I had originally thought I would put them all together into a quilt. After much thought I knew the quilting needed to be very dense. In the end, I decided it would be better to quilt them each individually.

I have turned a few of them into pillows. These were a graduation gift for one of my nieces.

The quilting is what holds all of the applique pieces to the background fabric. The quilting rows end up about 1/16th of an inch apart.

I am quite please with how these turned out.

Feathered Star

I have had a feathered star on my “to make” list since the late 1980s. I don’t know what it is but this block has been calling my name for a very long time.

With this being my daughter’s senior year of high school I knew I needed a special gift for her cello teacher of 13 years.

I started by choosing the colors for the background, sashing, and cornerstones.

From my stash, I pulled a mix of antique reproduction and modern prints that coordinated well with the solids.

I love the mix of modern and old fashion prints together.

Finished size 86” x 86”

Finishing Things

As usual, I start the year trying to finish projects before I start something else big. I feel like I might be starting to drown in works in progress.

This queen size string quilt is next on the list. I basted it with a wool batting a few months ago. It’s big and puffy and will clear up the most space of my current works in progress. My husband really likes this one so I am eager to get it finished and on our bed.

I’ve narrowed down the thread choices to these two. The Aurifil 4651 is a variegated cream, yellow, pink and is a favorite of mine. The other choice is Aurifil 5006. I’ll probably use both because, why not?

String Piece Puzzle

This was a fun attempt to tame my box of scraps. It turned out to be a pretty happy looking quilt.

Finished quilt is 47” by 58”.

Licorice Allsosrts

I realized that I never shared the finished Licorice Allsorts quilt here. I quilted the whole quilt with straight line quilting spaced about 1/8 inch apart. I used several different colors of thread for the quilting and the look is very interesting. Different threads blend with different background colors. It’s subtle but I love the effect.

Finished quilt is 47” by 52”.

Tiny Strings

For a while I have been stitching little leftover bits of Oakshott cottons into small string segments. I recently sewed them together into this little 8.5” by 9.5” quilt.

I quilted it with a pale pink 80wt Aurifil thread. I love the thinner thread for small quilts like this.

I finished it off with a very narrow 1/8” binding. I am quite happy with how it turned out.

I know I will be using that narrow finish on some more tiny quilts in the future.

1896 Cycling Sweater

Some of you may know that my daughter, Phoebe’s, passion is historical clothing. She has been researching clothing styles for the last few years and when she saw this 1890s cycling sweater at the Met, she knew she had to have it.

I needed a new knitting project at the time and volunteered to make it for her.

The entire sweater is rib knit and took FOREVER but it was oh, so worth it for those ginormous sleeves.

Phoebe is thrilled that it is finally cool enough to wear it!

I used the original 1890s knitting patter than can be found here.

Tiny Baskets

I taught a tiny piecing class a couple of weeks ago and was inspired to try making my little basket blocks even smaller. The previous small baskets finish at a 2 inch block. This one will finish at 1 inch square.

I embroidered the handles with Aurifil floss.

Aren’t they adorable?

The older basket quilt is on the left in the photo below. The new baskets are on the right just above the cat face.

Blues and Browns

I am an Aurifil Artisan and I recently received a welcome package with a variety of their threads. I have been using their 50wt cotton for years for my quilt piecing. I’ve also used the 40wt for garment sewing and the cotton floss for embroidery. The 80wt cotton was new to me, though. It is thin but strong and I immediately wanted to try it in my tiny piecing. I have tried other thin threads to reduce bulk in the seam area but am THRILLED to find a thin, strong cotton that works well. The cotton has enough grab that the thread does not slip out of the seams easily. I am an 80wt Aurifil convert. You can see my first blocks using the 80wt thread above.

I was inspired by some vintage blue and brown clothing when choosing the colors for these blocks.

Prom

Miss P went to prom with her friends last month. The dance was partly outside so I let her use my freshly knit silk Kishie Shawl. The details for the shawl are on my Ravelry page.

The dress was a 1950s vintage frock we found on etsy. The top is velvet and the skirt has a very satisfactory swishiness.

The peach color petticoat is from Doris Designs.